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Organised by: (logos: Minimo and Vivi )

Main sponsor: BARCE- (logos: Generalitat, Ajuntament, Media)

Supported by: (Estrella Damm logo) LONA Product partners:

With the collaboration of: INTER- Associated events NATIONAL Associated events

Associated events: ARTS& VFX FAIR Ferran Fèlix Mascarell Balbas Art Tech Lorenzo Angeli Simeon Balabanov Pag. 14 Pag. 40 Efesto Lab. V-Ray in Character. Open Vfx. Design Masterclass. Pag. 10 Pag. 12 Pag. 42 Pag. 44

Daniel Gregoire Christian Alzmann Alvise Avati. How to be an Andrea Blasich Kirsten Bodenstedt Colin Doncaster Previs through to Final: ILM. Concept Art for VFX: animator and still be happy A Sculpture Journey for the Film Peregrine Labs. A career path Peregrine Labs. Technology for Story Telling. The ILM Art Department. Part II - Twinnigs Commercial. and Game industry and beyond. through the film industry. Yeti Masterclass. Halon Entertainment. Pag. 16 Pag. 18 Pag. 20 Pag. 46 Pag. 48 Pag. 50

Art Work by Victor Hugo

Jean Michel Boublil Laurie Brugger. . Carlos y Jordi Grangel Szabolcs Horvátth Vladimir Koylazov Martin Pengelly-Phillips Ftrack. Automatik VFX. Please Look After This Bear: Studio Grangel. Digic Pictures: Rendering The Chaos Group. Collateral data: Overcoming the VFX as a storytelling medium. Paddington from Pen to Pixel. Character design masterclass. Witcher to Life. Thoughts on rendering. issues of multi-site data Pag. 22 Pag. 24 Pag. 26 Pag. 52 Pag. 54 management. Pag. 56

Exodus - Image © 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Job Fair Alessandro Jacomini Studios. Lighting and Rendering the John Knoll Juan Luís Sánchez David Short Pag.62 Imaginary Worlds of Big Hero 6, ILM Double Negative A Stitch In The : Digital Making Functional Creatures. Fever and Feast. 40 years of ILM. Show talk. Costume Design And Simulation. Pag. 60 Pag. 28 Pag. 30 Pag. 32 Pag. 58

CustomeFx Creative Post-Production Studio

Daniel Martínez Lara Victor Navone Tom Reed Alike: making a short with open Animation Studios. MPC. Growing Groot Guardian source tools. Inside ‘Inside Out’. of the Galaxy. Pag. 34 Pag. 36 Pag. 38 Pag. 64 Pag. 66 Pag. 68 Pag. 70 Pag. 72 Pag. 74

Pag. 76 Pag. 78 Pag. 80 Open Exhibi- Day tors

Pag. 82 Pag.84 Pag.90 Product Partners Pag.94 Presentation b’Ars 2015

b’Ars started in 2014 as a meeting point for the industry of arts Ferran and (VFX) related to animation, cinema, television and video games. These are growing sectors worldwide and we want to promote them, in line with Catalonia’s ongoing strategy for the internatio- nalization of its culture. Mascarell The results of b’Ars first edition were very positive and suggest not only continuity, but promotion of new, similar initiatives.

For this reason, b’Ars 2015 brings foreign and local project pre- sentations by companies and independent professionals, boosting this sector’s international exchange.

Generalitat b’Ars also promotes networking with recognised experts, facilita- ting debates on major industry trends and giving Catalan compa- nies an opportunity to participate in the international markets.

I invite you to actively participate, to these and other similar events. de Cata- Catalonia is able, in culture and other fields, to attract a variety of talents, through the consistent evolution of its society.

We want to learn, understand, share, exchange and contribute: lunya b’Ars is a good example, and it will be even more in the future. Culture Counselor 11 VFX, Animation, Video games, TV productions, VR…: every aspect of the digital content production is in full expansion and b’Ars second edition wants to confirm its presence as a meeting point Fèlix for the general public, students and professionals. I’m am very happy to say that b’Ars first edition has surpassed everyone’s expectations and we feel now the (positive) pressure to confirm the quality of speakers and respond to the growing enthusiasm around our sector.

This year’s edition will bring talents from PIXAR, ILM, DISNEY, GRANGEL Studios and all the biggest names in the business Balbas with presentations that will cover the likes of Video Games, Animation, VFX in all their aspects: from the artistic creation and design to its technical implementation.

As part of our effort, we have improved b’Ars job fair, where we have a stunning participation of companies, making it one of the biggest in Europe, creating a bridge between local talent and the biggest and most successful companies around the world. b’Ars Last but not least, the part for the general public (Sunday, free entrance) this year will have workshops from Grangel Studio with Carles Burges, the greatly successful Pepon Negre and a kids-friendly presentation made by Disney’s Alessandro Jacomi- ni, where children and families will access to the VFX concepts, in a playful way.

All in all, b’Ars is trying to establish in Barcelona, as one of the Direc- best Animation & VFX meeting points in the world. tor Art “A Sculpture Journey for the Film and Game industry and beyond”

After graduating from The Art Center in Pasadena Christian Alzmann was hired into Industrial Light & Magic’s art de- partment. 16 years later, he is still with ILM and now a Senior Art Director. He has worked on numerous film projects inclu- ding A.I., Men in Black 2, , Episode Two: Attack of the Clones, War of the Worlds, the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, and Star Trek 2. Christian is currently working on Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens and Warcraft. As a visual storyteller Christian has also illustrated book covers for and Fantasy novels. His clients include Harper Collins, Pen- guin Books, IDG and Future Publishing. Christian’s artwork has been featured in “Star Wars Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones”, “Van Helsing: The Making of the Legend”, “Inside Men in Black II”, “Exposé” and “Spec- trum” 9-16. Christians personal work can be found in his book: Tales: The Art of Christian Alzmann, available on his website,www.christianalzmann.com or on Amazon. Christian Alzmann

16 17 “How to be an animator and still be happy Part II - Twinnigs Commercial”

Born and bred in Rome, Alvise studied fine art at high school and at the Academy of Fine Arts. He subsequently began his career as a character animator during which he has worked on movies as , Avatar, Transformers and Avengers 2 - Age of Ultron amongst others, for the biggest companies in the industry. (, ILM, Double Negative, MPC, Cinesite). In 2014 he wrote/animated/directed the spec commercial Beans, which got viral on the internet. Alvise is now back at Industrial Light & Magic’s as animator; he is also freelancing as commercials Director and anima- tion Director for commercials and short films. Alvise Avati

18 19 “A Sculpture Journey for the Film and Game industry and beyond”

Andrea Blasich spent the last 20 years working in the anima- tion field. He graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan with a Master in Scenography. After few years working for theaters in Milan, Italy, he moved to Animation, which has always been his passion. The first chance to break into this field was to work for , , on his first feature film Balto. During the years he worked in London, Milan and Munich and finally in 1997 his dream came true: he landed in the U.S.A. He worked as a layout artist for DreamWorks Animation as well as a sculptor. His range broadened tremendously as he worked as a sculptor for video games (Factor 5, 2K Games) as well as Feature Animation including studios such as Drea- mWorks, Bluesky, Pixar, Disney, Lucas Film and Cinderbiter. Andrea is also working on his personal sculptures and bron- zes. His work has also appeared in exhibitions at Pixar Ani- mation Studio, Cartoon Museum in , Nucleus Gallery in and the Socitey of Illustrators in New York. Currently he is working as CG Sculptor and Sculptor for different Studios in San Francisco. Andrea www.andreablasichsculpture.com Blasich

20 21 “VFX as a storytelling medium”

Jean-Michel attended the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he majored in Computer Arts and Design. He spent the several years following that, working as a free- lance compositor and motion design artist in various different countries before moving to Germany. Jean-Michel has since worked on a large variety of feature films as VFX Supervisor collaborating with directors such as Anton Corbijn and Martin Zandvliet. He is now the Creative Director and VFX Supervisor of Berlin based boutique house Automatik VFX. Jean Michel Boublil

22 23 “Please Look After This Bear: Paddington from Pen to Pixel”

Laurie is the Head of Rigging at Framestore London, where she has worked on many visual effects projects including Paddington, Guardians of the Galaxy and Gravity. Prior to vfx work Laurie was part of rigging teams for two UK fea- ture , The Tale of Despereaux (2008) and Valiant (2005). Throughout her career she has maintained a special focus on facial rigging.This year Laurie was recognized for her work on Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy with a Visual Effects Society nomination for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture. She won the award in 2010 for Dobby in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Laurie Brugger

24 25 In 1994 they created the characters for the short film ¨The Periwig Maker¨, made using techniques and the winner of numerous awards, in addition to being nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated in 2001.

A year later, in 1995, DreamWorks (founded by , Jeffrey Kat- zenberg and ) contacted Carlos Grangel and his team to work on Carlos various animated productions, including ¨The of Egypt¨, ¨¨, ¨¨, ¨, Stallion of the Cimarron¨ (for which Carlos gained an “Annie Award Nomination” in character creation in 2002) “Sinbad”, “” (also nominated for an “Annie Award” in characters creation in 2004), ¨”, “”, “”, “” and “How to Train Your ”, as well as on the credits lettering of “Gladiator”.

and Jordi In late 2002 they began collaborating with . The director, interested and attracted by the graphics and originality of the sketches made by Grangel Studio for “The Periwig Maker¨, produced by studio Mackinnon and Saunders (Manchester) during “Mars Attacks” pre-production, involved them in the creative process for a new stop motion feature film, “”, produced by Warner Bros. Grangel Carlos Grangel and his team designed all the characters in the film, sha- ring the original creator credit with Tim Burton. The project involved three departments at Grangel Studio: Carlos supervised character design, Carles “Character design masterclass” Burges the design of the logotype, calligraphy and lettering of the film and Jor- di Grangel role was sculptor and character designer, focused on maquettes/ Carlos and Jordi Grangel were born in Barcelona. The began their professional puppets supervision. Grangel Studio also provided costume designs, props and life as designers and comic illustrators in the 80’s, working on projects in a field supervision of all the merchandising and consumer products. that was dominated by Disney at that time. During the course of their work for the most prestigious agencies in Barcelona, they had the opportunity to meet The project brought Carlos Grangel a “Reuben Award” from the National and work with Carles Bruges, a designer and graphic artist who was also from Cartoonists Society in 2005 and in 2006 it was nominated for the “Annie Award” the city. in character creation.

In 1989, Carlos Grangel was hired by Amblimation ( - Ste- 2012 is the year of “The Pirates”, a stop-motion feature film produced by Aard- ven Spielberg’s London studio), where he worked as a character designer and man and and on which Grangel Studio’s collaboration involved storyboard artist on productions such as ¨We’re Back¨ and ¨Balto¨. He was character design and credits lettering. also involved in pre-production for as yet unreleased projects “Cats”, “Just So Stories” and “Crazy Dog”. During the same year Sony Pictures released the animated production “Hotel Transylvania” for which the studio was also in charge of character design and In 1993, after four years of experience in London working on feature film pro- credits lettering. ductions, Carlos Grangel decided to come back to Barcelona, where he founded Grangel Studio; a creative center with a team of professionals focused on the Carlos Grangel’s works have been classified as artistic masterpieces and creation of styles and characters in the animation industry. exhibited in some of the most famous contemporary museums such as Their first works were commercials for advertising commissioned by well MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art in New York), LACMA (Los Angeles County known companies such as (San Francisco), Richard Purdum Museum of Art), The American University College Museum of Arts & Sciences Productions (London) and Blizzard Animation (London). in Washington, ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), Tiff (Bell Light They also contributed their creations and designs to ”The Fearless Four”; a fea- Box Toronto), La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, SeMA (Seoul Museum of ture film entirely produced and made in Europe by Munich Animation (Munich). Art), the Baluard (Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma in Mallorca), El Museo Arocena of Torreón in Mexico and the World Expo 2010.

26 27 “Lighting and Rendering the Imaginary Worlds of Big Hero 6, Frozen Fever and Feast”

Disney Animation’s Lighting Supervisor Alessandro Jacomini recently completed working on the Oscar®-winning anima- ted feature “Big Hero 6” as Lighting Supervisor, and on the animated short “Frozen Fever” as Director of Cinematogra- phy Lighting. Jacomini served as Lighting Supervisor on the Oscar(r)-winning feature “Frozen,” on Disney’s animated feature “,” and as Sequence Lead on Disney’s anima- ted features “Bolt” and “Chicken Little”.

As a Lighting Artist, Jacomini contributed to two theme park productions based on Disney’s classic animated features for Disneyland Orlando and Disneyland Tokyo. He also worked on the short “” and Disney’s animated feature “”.

Before joining Disney Animation, Jacomini held positions as a Lighting Artist and Technical Director on the visual effects features “Mousehunt”, “Nutty Professor” and “Babe”, as well as two theme parks for Las Vegas’ Hilton and Luxor Hotels’ attractions, and in several commercials.

In 2013, he was awarded the 2013 VES Award for “Outstan- ding Created Environment in an Animated Feature” for “Fro- Alessandro zen: ’s Ice Palace”.

Jacomini received his Master’s Degree in Computer Science Jacomini from Universita’ degli Studi of Milan, Italy.

28 29 “40 years of ILM”

John Knoll joined Industrial Light & Magic as a Technical Assis- tant in 1986, and was soon promoted to Motion Control Camera Operator for Captain EO. After three years of operating, Knoll was called upon to work on the groundbreaking digital effects for The Abyss. Since that time, he has been promoted to Visual Effects Supervisor helming the visual effects on more than 20 feature films and commercials. His film background coupled with an advanced understanding of digital technologies has made Knoll a much sought-after supervisor; he recieved Aca- demy Award® nominations for Star Wars: Episode I The Phan- tom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, as well as BAFTA® nominations for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace andPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Knoll’s resume also includes Mission to Mars, Deep Blue Sea, Star Trek: First Contact, and Mission: Impossible, among others. In 2005, he completed work on the final installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy with Star Wars: Episode III Re- venge of the Sith. In 2006, Knoll finished work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, for which he received both a BA- John FTA® and an Academy Award®. More recently, Knoll was the Visual Effects Supervisor on Brad Bird’s action-packed thriller, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. Knoll’s interest in filmmaking began at an early age. Having a keen interest in visual effects, he was mesmerized by the originalStar Wars. During a visit to ILM in 1978 he was able to observe firsthand the world of visual effects. Inspired to learn more, Knoll attended the USC School of Cinema and earned Knoll a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema Production, while freelancing as a modelmaker at a variety of Los Angeles-based production facilities.

30 31 “Show talk”

Founded in 1998 with a team of just 30, multi-award-winning Double Negative (Dneg) is now one of the world’s leading providers of visual effects for Film with facilities in London, Singapore and Vancouver.

Through its steady and constant growth Dneg has always sought to retain both the creative drive and involvement of its artists through all projects and a close collaborative working relationship with film makers from the first stages of projects; producing ideas and concept imagery and developing previs and vfx production plans. In tandem, Dneg’s large VFX R&D team work constantly to create the tools needed for their artists to produce ground breaking digital en-

Exodus - Image © 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Century Fox - Image © 2014 Twentieth Exodus vironments, creatures, digital characters and effects from the real (water, smoke and fire) to the magical.

This approach has proved a winning combination both in terms of developing long-standing relationships with leading Directors (Chris Nolan, , Paul Greengrass, Edgar Wright) and in awards recognition (Dneg have just picked up their third BAFTA and second Academy Award® for their work on Interstellar)

Recent shows include Interstellar, Ex Machina, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Double In addition Dneg has a flourishing television team, DNegTV, busy working on prime time shows of the likes of Outlander and and a brand new Feature Animation division set up to work with IP Providers on the creation of feature length animations. Negative For more information head to www..com.

32 33 “Alike: making a short with open source tools”

Daniel M. Lara (Madrid, 1972) has worked in film, commer- cials, and TV shows with various companies such Ilion Ani- mation Studios, Pyro Studios, REM Infografica and Digital Furia among others. He started in the the world of 3D as self-taught, and directed several short animated films between 1997 and 2006: “3 Silly Stories” (that won 1st prize at “Art Futura”) , “WC” (nominated for a Goya), “Pepe” (that won 2nd prize at “Animadrid”) and “Changes” with more than 17 awards. In 2006 he founded Pepe School Land, a school focused on modeling, character animation and creating 3D films. Currently is co-directing with Rafael Cano the short film “Alike”. Daniel Martinez Lara

34 35 “Inside “Inside Out”

Victor Navone began working as an animator at Pixar Ani- mation Studios in March 2000. “Monsters, Inc.” was his first project at the studio and Navone has worked on almost every Pixar feature film since then, including “Cars,” and the Academy Award®-winning films “Finding Nemo,” “The In- [j]\aZd]k$½¼O9DDœ=$½¼LgqKlgjq+$½Yf\¼:jYn]&½AfY\\alagf Property of Pixar Animation Studios Property to his work as an animator, Navone has worked alongside and Rob Gibbs as co-director on a number of the “Cars Toon” short films including “Rescue Squad Ma- ter,” “Mater the Greater,” “El Materdor” and “Tokyo Mater.” Navone most recently worked as a supervising animator on

Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Navone earned a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at the University of , Victor Irvine. He currently resides in Oakland, CA with his family Navone

36 37 “Growing Groot - Guardian of the Galaxy”

MPC’s Head of Rigging, Tom Reed, joined MPC in 2003 after graduating from Bournemouth University with a BA (hons) in Computer Visualisation & Animation. His first role at MPC was a Modeller and Character rigger on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and AVP: Alien Vs Predator. Tom’s skills as a talented rigger were quickly re- cognised and after proving his technical and creative talents as a lead on 10,000BC and Fred Claus, Tom accepted the role of Head of Rigging in 2008. Since then Tom has worked on more than 25 movies, rigging everything from the multiple limbed sea in The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the complex character design of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. Tom is currently leading MPC’s team on movies including Tom and Disney’s The Jungle Book. Reed

38 39 Tech 40 “Open Vfx”

Lorenzo was born in Florence in 1976. Passionate about art, technology and innovation, fails studying as an architect and starts his career in the CGI industry. After a short professio- nal course, works in Italy as CG generalist for commercials for more than 8 years chasing productions and improving its coding skills. In 2003 works on its first movie production for an italian cartoon, Opopomoz, writing shaders and tools. From 2006 to 2009 he lives in Rome working for Rainbow CGI , writing and maintaining the pipeline, to produce feature animations movies. Then he moves to London to join Frames- tore in 2009 where he works as Lead Show Pipeline Develo- per for various movies such as Avatar, War Horse, Prince of Persia and others. After joining London as senior developer in 2012 for a new distributed pipeline soft- ware, moves to MPC as Lead developer, where he maintains and improves the legacy code. In 2014 opens his own com- pany, Efesto Lab LTD., starting the collaboration with fTrack, developing the new Studio Integration and improving Lorenzo the integration plugins. Angeli

42 43 “V-Ray in Character Design Masterclass”

This conference is offered by Chaos Group

Simeon Balabanov is highly trained in 3D modeling and rendering, with over 11 years of applied experience. Before joining Chaos Group, he worked as a CG supervisor at some of the biggest animation studios in Bulgaria. Since joining the Chaos Group CG team in 2012, Simeon has become one of the company’s top presenters for V-Ray for 3ds Max and V-Ray for Maya. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Technical University – Sofia.

Simeon Balabanov

44 45 “A career path through the film industry”

Kirsten has been working in the animation and film industry for over 15 years after studying both stop motion animation and film production/finance. Her experience has given her a chance to work in Australia on local projects as well as international co-productions such as Nick Cave’s “The Propo- sition”. The transition to animation and visual effects led her to such projects as the “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” where she supervised stereo production. After running production as Studio Manager for one of Norway’s top VFX facilities she started Peregrine Visual Storytelling in Canada where she oversees day to day operations and “wran- gles the nerds”.

Kirsten Bodenstedt

46 47 “Yeti Masterclass”

Colin is a creative technologist who loves digital storytelling. With 20 years of VFX and animation production experience he is now building a sustainable studio where great ideas, art and technology can thrive. Over the course of his career he has been lucky to have wor- ked on the the Oscar winning projects Lord of the Rings and Avatar, along with such directors as , and the brilliant Terry Gilliam. Most recently Colin had the honour of receiving a SciTech award for Deep Compositing from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Colin Doncaster

48 49 “Previs through to Final: Technology for Story Telling”

As the founder and CEO, Daniel Gregoire has been the Previs Supervisor for leading directors on some of the most exci- ting projects in the last decade beginning with four years at JAK with George Lucas for Star Wars Episode II and III and THX 1138. Under the HALON banner, he has lead high profile projects such as War of the Worlds and India- na Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Steven Spielberg, The Spiderwick Chronicles with Mark Waters, The Last Airbender with M. Night Shyamalan, John Carter with ,Cowboys & Aliens with Jon Favreau, World War Z with Marc Forster and with JJ Abrams. In addition, Dan and HALON have worked on nume- rous commercials and films for such companies as Drea- mWorks Animation, Apple, The Mill, Method/RIOT, Kia, NBC and AMD. Dan has supervised Visual Effects and is develo- ping several internal projects for future release. Dan is also a founding member and Treasurer of the Previs Society. Daniel Gregoire

50 51 “Digic Pictures: Rendering The Witcher to Life”

This conference is offered by SolidAngle

Szabolcs’ background is in feature film VFX, commercials and high end game cinematics. He joined Digic Pictures in 2004 where he holds the position of Lead Technical Director. Over the years he has worked in lots of different areas: character and effect setups, hair modeling and simulation, writing and designing shaders, plugins and pipeline tools. He has worked on high profile shows over the years inclu- ding: Warhammer Mark of Chaos, Assassinís Creed 2 and Revelations, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, WatchDogs, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare... Szabolcs also leads and participates in the development of CG and pipeline tools used in the studio.

DIGIC Pictures is a high-end specializing in full 3D animation and visual effects for feature films, com- mercials and the video game industry. DIGIC is best known for creating fine details and realistic characters as well as world-class rendering in the animated shorts we produce. In filmmaking, we are leveraging next generation technology Szabolcs to provide entirely new visual experiences for the CG audien- ces. In the past few years, our team’s game trailers and intro movies for our clients have earned DIGIC Pictures critical acclaim. Some of our notable projects are cinematics for the Assassi- Horvátth nís Creed series, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, Call of Duty: Advan- ced Warfare, The Witcher 3.

52 53 “Thoughts on rendering”

Vladimir “Vlado” Koylazov, co-founder and head of software development at Chaos Group, the makers of V-Ray and V-Ray RT. Passionate about 3D graphics and programming, Vlado is the driving force behind Chaos Group’s software solutions. Vlado is an expert in rendering theory and an avid 3D commu- nity supporter and he often participates in forum discussions to help users solve rendering challenges. Vlado won the 3D World Hall of Fame Award in 2014 https://thecgawards.com/previous-winners/

Vladimir Koylazov

54 55 “Collateral data: Overcoming the issues of multi-site data management”

Martin started out in 2003 by building The ’s [MPC] first ever feature film pipeline for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He then moved on to work with Warner Bros. on Corpse Bride, where he was noted on the Apple website for the successful integration of Final Cut Pro into the workflow. He has also worked for respected software vendors FilmLight and Shotgun providing key in- sights for integrating their products into production as well as building components of the systems. With FilmLight, he worked again with Warner Bros. on the Harry Potter franchi- se, building the on set digital grading and colour workflow as well as establishing data exchange processes with vendors. He even found time to do a spot of grading. With Shotgun he helped design and build their new asset management system, then went on to integrate that system and build the remaining pipeline for Dr. D. Studios in Australia. He was a pivotal player in bringing Framestore’s proprietary as- Martin set management system to a 1.0 release and establishing exemplary development practices before moving on to lead the development of a global pipeline for Reliance. Working with production companies and vendors all over the world has enabled Martin to understand different working cultures Pengelly- and approaches and how to blend these effectively. Today, as CTO for ftrack, he helps distill these practices and workflows down into easy to use, but comprehensive software for the Phillips creative industries.

56 57 “A Stitch In The Timeline: Digital Costume Design And Simulation”

For the past eighteen years Juan-Luis has made costumes drape, swish and swirl for some of the most iconic on-screen digital characters including Paddington, Yoda, Dobby, the Pi- rates of the Caribbean and Dr Ryan Stone, an accident-prone Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”, recognised for Outstanding FX and Simulation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture at the 2014 VES Awards. He is currently Character Effects Supervisor at Ilion Anima- tion Studios in Madrid. Juan Luís Sánchez

58 59 “Making functional creatures”

David Short is a Creature Specialist with 25 years in Compu- ter Graphics. With his first creature work in a feature film released in 1998 he has maintained a focus on realistic crea- tures and amassed a wealth of knowledge on their creation. He has worked on many notable projects, including but not limited to, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 3 Harry Potter films, Happy Feet, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Golden Compass, Avatar, John Carter, Man of Steel, Two Hobbit films, Dawn of the , Two Hunger Games films and Fast & . The companies he has worked for include Weta Digital, Double Negative, Framestore, Iloura, and Pictures. The positions he has held span from 3D Animator through to Creature Supervisor. Presently he is employed at Weta Digital David as a Lead Creature Technical Director. Short

60 61 Job Fair

62 Automatik is a boutique visual effects studio based in Berlin and London. Providing the full palette of digital image creation, AUTOMATIK is built around a core collaborative team dedicated to offer you the best from creating conceptual designs to epic environments.

Formed in 2013, AUTOMATIK has rapidly grown into a well known and respected VFX studio. Since opening, the company have already created stunning visual effects for a large range of budgets and production scales. An overall passion shared within Automatik, is the love of a great story. This has meant working with many art house films where the visual effects aren’t neces- sarily the focus, but instead help compliment and tell the story better. Some of their most recent work includes The Imitation Game, Life, A Most Wanted Man and yet to be released: Auto- bahn, The Other Side of the Door and American Hero.

Servicing their international client base, Automatik are all about building long-term relationships. They are a collaboration of experienced and innovative artists constantly pushing creative and technical boundaries. Their production pipeline is an always developing one, constantly being re-shaped and tailored to fully utilize every skill and talent during the running of different projects. Their VFX producers are involved in every step of the process fitting the very best of customized solutions into our clients budgets and schedules.

64 65 A creative studio based in the heart of Barcelona’s design district. Edgy VFX, avant-garde animation, post-production, motion graphics and audiovisual technologies. Custom generates content and offers support for feature film, commercial, gaming, digital content and supervision of CGI and animated audiovisual productions.

CustomeFx Creative Post-Production Studio

66 67 Founded in 1998 with a team of just 30, multi-award-winning Double Negative (Dneg) is now one of the world’s leading providers of visual effects for Film with facilities in London, Singapore and Vancouver.

Through its steady and constant growth Dneg has always sought to retain both the creative drive and involvement of its artists through all projects and a close collaborative working relationship with film makers from the first stages of pro- jects; producing ideas and concept imagery and developing previs and vfx production plans. In tandem, Dneg’s large VFX R&D team work constantly to create the tools needed for their artists to produce ground breaking digital environments, creatures, digital characters and effects from the real (water, smoke and fire) to the magical.

This approach has proved a winning combination both in terms of developing long-standing relationships with leading Directors (Chris Nolan, Ron Howard, Paul Greengrass, Edgar Wright) and in awards recognition (Dneg have just picked up their third BAFTA and second Academy Award® for their work on Interstellar)

Recent shows include Interstellar, Ex Machina, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Jupiter Ascending and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

In addition Dneg has a flourishing television team, DNegTV, busy working on prime time shows of the likes of Outlander and Agent Carter and a brand new Feature Animation division set up to work with IP Providers on the creation of feature length animations.

For more information head to www.dneg.com.

68 69 The Efesto’s Lab is a development company focused on Vfx, Feature Animation and Commercials productions. Our core business is London but we serve the whole Europe. Our aim is to help mid and small production companies to improve their workflow and productivity with scalable and distributed solutions integrating the industry standard appli- cation for production pipelines.

70 71 Framestore is a Bafta and Oscar-winning creative studio with offices in London, New York, LA and . It was established in Soho, London, in 1986 and has grown from a team of just five to more than a thousand worldwide, creating extraordinary images for film and advertising. From the iconic Guinness Surfer commercial to award-winning opening title sequences for the Bond films, the chances are you will know its work. The company writes, produces, directs, animates and colour grades for its advertising clients, while it can also craft inte- ractive installations, branded content and pioneering virtual reality experiences that put you inside the likes of HBO’s and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. On the film side Framestore gets involved with a picture at the earliest opportunity (often from the concept art stage) and has a VFX Supervisor working on-set as a significant part of a film’s crew. The company won the visual effects Oscar and Bafta for The Golden Compass in 2008, and again in 2014 for Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. Recent film work includes Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, ’s big screen debut and ’ next sci-fi epic, Jupiter Ascending. Cu- rrent projects include ’s Pan, David Yates’s Tarzan, Ridley Scott’s The Martian and ’s directorial debut Jungle Book: Origins.

72 73 Founded in 2003 by Daniel Gregoire, HALON Entertainment is a full-service previsualization company committed to advan- cing storytelling – working with filmmakers to visually see their shots before filming begins – by using a digital process where technological complexity yields to the creative process. HALON uses state-of-the-art technology for actor and came- ra motion-capture allowing creative to block actors, film set- ups, explore sets and discover their virtual world in a hands- on interactive process that mirrors any real world set. Our artists have contributed to some of the biggest blockbusters of our time such as: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “World War Z,” “Avatar,” “The Hunger Games,” “Spider-Man 3, “Kung Fu Panda,” and many others. Outside of film, HALON has worked on television and game projects including “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey,” “Evolve,” “Halo Reach – Deliver Hope,” and the popular 2012 Super Bowl “Vokal Kombat” spot for NBC’s “The Voice.” www.halon.com

MATTERvr is a new virtual reality original content com- pany forged by award-winning leaders in the film, television, gaming and new media industries. MATTERvr is passionate about creating the next generation of storytelling for the era of enhanced reality. The company is current working on a diverse slate of projects with prominent producers, directors and writers. www.mattervr.com

74 75 Founded by George Lucas in 1975 to create the special effects for his space epic Star Wars, no other facility of its type exis- ted at the time. Now with locations in San Francisco, Vancou- ver, Singapore and London, ILM remains one of the leading effects companies in the world, serving the motion picture commercial production and attraction industries.

For 40 years ILM has set the standard for visual effects and in the process, created some of the most stunning images in the history of film. With the most advanced visual effects pipeline in the entertainment industry, ILM is always at the forefront of the digital revolution.

76 77 From its astounding innovations in the original Star Wars trilogy to its ground-breaking CGI work in blockbusters like , Star Trek, and The Avengers, ILM has changed and expanded the possibilities of what a film can be.

Method Studios is an award-winning, international visual effects group with facilities in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, , Detroit, , London, Sydney and Mel- bourne. As an artist-driven company known for its creativity, Method Studios services high-end feature film, commercial, television, games and motion graphics clients in the global marketplace. Recently completed feature projects include Jupiter Ascen- ding, : Secret of the Tomb, The Maze Runner and Guardians of the Galaxy. Upcoming feature work includes San Andreas, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Commercial work includes the multi-award winning spot ‘Childlike Imagination’ for GE and 2015 Super Bowl spots for Skittles, Lexus, Bud Light and TMobile. If you are as passionate about great VFX as we are - we look forward to talking to you about the chance of joining our family!

78 79 MPC has been one of the global leaders in VFX for over 25 years and counting, with industry-leading facilities in London, Vancou- ver, Montréal, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Bangalore Paris, Shanghi and Mexico City. MPC Film serve the international movie industry by bringing the vision of some of the world’s most creative film makers to life. Their global teams are involved at every stage of the creative process, from initial concept art to final compositing and ste- reoscopic workflow, creating everything from awesome creatu- res and breathtaking environments to futuristic spaceships and explosive destruction sequences. In 2013 MPC won an Academy Award for their contribution to Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and has continued to produce outstanding work since then on titles such as , X - Men: Days of Fu- ture Past and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Movies currently in production include Batman V Superman:Dawn of Justice, Fantastic Four, Spectre and Ridley Scott’s The Martian.

80 81 Twin Pines is a VFX company based in Madrid (Spain) born in 2008 from the enthusiasm of passionate professionals with a long track record in the field. We grew up watching movies that fascinated and marked us. Once they were over and the end credits unrolled, a special energy took over us. This ener- gy stayed inside us and made us get involved in VFX and fulfill a dream: to build our own VFX boutique.

Twin Pines is therefore a dream that comes true with every new project: we treat each project in an exclusive way sin- ce the stage to the final stage and we focus on delivering the highest quality possible. Our strength lies on gathering the best team possible and making them a part of a dream that we know many emerging and consolidated VFX professionals share. Our dedication and professionalism to- TWIN PINES gether with a unique understanding of working in the cinema industry have made us thrive these past years. Productions such as Extinction, Los últimos días, Kamikaze or Post Tene- bras Lux and awards such as the Gaudí prize and three Goya and Ariel nominations to best VFX illustrate our commitment to our profession.

And so, when the lights come back on in the movie theater and we watch the end credits of our films, we experience something very close to happiness. A happiness based on the work well done with the best team and on our growth as human beings and professionals, scene after scene.

82 83 The open day84 The “Open Day” is the last day of the fair, and it’s aimed to fa- milies and general public, to allow them to have a taste of what is the VFX world. This year it will take place on Sun- day 14th of June, from 10 am to 2 pm, with free entrance; the public will be able to enjoy con- ferences, kids laboratory, the 25th years Studio Grangel’s ex- hibition, and much more! 87 Masterclass: Stop motion workshop: “3d in photography, illustrations and graphic design” PEPON NEGRE FX Animation Degree in Fine Art (University of Barcelona) How to combine traditional photography and illustra- Art Teacher - Departament d’Ensenyament - Generali- tion with 3D images, to create amazing pictures full of tat de Catalunya Teacher trainer. creativity, saving time and money at the same time. Creator of educational materials. This Masterclass is open to the general public, but es- Apple Distinguished Educator 2013. pecially aimed to photographer, illustrator and artists who want to expand their knowledge on CG technology After last year’s great success, Pepon Negre will be applied to arts and advertising. back with this stop motion workshop, where kids be- We’ll talk about new CG technologies for 3d comp in come directors creating their first animated short film photography, the production process with High Dy- using the Ipad. Ready! Set! Action! namic Range (HDRI), creating the CG part, texturing, shading/lighting, render and post – production. Calligraphy workshop: With these procedures professionals and artists are CARLES BRUGES Y MANES able to achieve amazing pictures and increase the Aimed to kids, taught by Carles Bruges y Manes, quality of their portfolio. lettering designer from Studio Grangel, specialised in credits lettering, corporate image, logotypes and Walt Disney Animation Studios: tailored calligraphy. The appealing worlds and characters of Big Hero 6, Frozen Fever, and Feast Oculus Rift workshop: Join Alessandro Jacomini, Lighting Supervisor, for a FX ANIMATION behind-the-scenes look at the art of believable worlds Organized by FX Animation, the participants will have and appealing characters. During this interactive pre- the chance to experience the Virtual Reality. Using the sentation, Alessandro will share the process of making immersive glasses, they will be able to walk around an animated film and how the storytelling is enhanced into the “Whisper Mansion” a fantasy gothic video through the art of color and light. game created by Oriol Pinilla, one of the students of the school, as his final project. LaSalle The game is set in an ancient XIX’s century mansion, Animation Award with the atmosphere of the best horror movies, and At 12.30 there will be the prize-giving of the LaSalle the journey is full of adventure and mystery. animation award.

88 89 Conferences Workshops Exhibi-

tors90 Barcelona Art Academy Grangel Studio The Barcelona Academy of Art is a highly specialized art school focu- b’Ars 2015 will have the honour to host an exclusive exhibition of sed on the teaching of Drawing, Paint-ing, Sculpture and Digital Art by 100 art pieces from “Corpse Bride”, to celebrate the 25th anniver- rescuing the methodologies employed in the ateliers of those outstan- sary of the impressive career of Grangel Studio. This exhibition has ding master painters of the 19th century -Charles Bargue, Jean Leon been previously hosted at MoMA in New York. Gerome, Bonnat, Carolus-Du- ran. The Academy is the first training art center based on classicalrepresen- tational methods as a basis for Carlos Grangel’s works has been classified as art masterpieces the training of great contemporary figurative artists. In the Barcelona and has been exhibited in some of the most famous contemporary Academy of Art we defend academic classical art as a valid educa- museums such as the MoMA_The Museum of Modern Art in New tional program basic for any creative discipline. Academic art is not a York, LACMA_Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The American goal in itself, but it is a stage and a learning period for artists, where University College Museum_ of Arts & Sciences at Washington, they acquire the basis and control required for a later representation The ACMI_ Australian Centre for the Moving Image, The Tiff_ of a figurative and realistic own vision including more modern and Bell Light Box Toronto, La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, contemporary drawing, painting, sculpture and digital proposals. SeMA_Seoul Museum of Art, the Baluard_Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma in Mallorca, El Museo Arocena of Torreon La Salle - Ramon Llull in Mexico and the World Expo Shanghai 2010. La Salle Campus Barcelona- URL , a founding member of the Uni- versitat Ramon Llull, provides specialised university education in Architecture, Engineering, Business Management and Animation and Leonard Blum and Captae VFX . With a clear international vocation, its teaching is interconnec- Leonard Blum:Leonard Blum are specialist in new and innovative ted through 77 Lasallian universities in over 83 countries worldwide . technologies for Photography, Film, Advertising and CGI, creating Furthermore, entrepreneurship is firmly committed through La Salle hi resolution environments from Point Clouds and Photogrammetry, Technova Barcelona, incubator for innovative Technology start-ups. Hi Resolution Characters using Camera Rig and Laser Scan, Ima- ge Based Lighting (HDRI) and Hi Resolution Texture Capturing (8k). La Salle Campus Barcelona, with 112 years of history as university, Captae: Specialized in Lidar 3D Scanning Technology delivers was pioneer in Catalonia training professionals in the field of telecom- unparalleled detail on objects, scenes or sets. Our system provides munications. In 2015 will be celebrated 50 years of the first Telecom- point cloud to mesh accuracy and color data. munications college of Catalonia. They’ll be presenting two projects Fx Animation œKlm\ag?jYf_]d& O]Yj]af&&&! With a single location in Barcelona, FX ANIMATION offers specialised œE]j[Yl\]d:gjf +<Eg\]d%:]`af\l`]K[]f]k! training in all areas of the most up to date 3D software, techniques and technologies. Our mission is that our students acquire a high technical and artistic level of expertise.

92 93 Product Partners

94 Chaos Group Chaos Group creates physically-based rendering and simula- tion software for artists and designers. Founded in 1997, Chaos Group has devoted the last 18 years to helping artists advance the speed and quality of one of their most important tools. Today, Chaos Group’s photorea- listic rendering software, V-Ray®, has become the rendering engine of choice for many high-profile companies and innova- tors in the visual effects and design industries. Thanks to the great work of the V-Ray community, V-Ray-created designs have become nearly inescapable for everyone with access to a TV, computer, or movie ticket. For more information, please visit www.chaosgroup.com and www.v-ray.com

Solid Angle Solid Angle SL is the technology company behind the rendering software, with offices in Madrid and London and customers throughout the world including Framestore, ILM, , MPC, The Mill and Digic Pictu- res. Arnold was designed from the ground up to efficiently raytrace the complex geometric datasets required for feature -length CGI animation and big budget visual effects, while at the same time simplifying the pipeline, reducing the number of passes, minimizing storage requirements and greatly enhancing interactivity for lighting artists.

Peregrine Labs Peregrine Labs is a team of experienced craftspeople who are passionate about creative technology and moving pictu- res, our products have been used globally to create exceptio- nal imagery for film, tv and game cinematics

96 97 The Convent dels Àngels Plaça dels Àngels, 1 08001 BarcelonaBarcelona Tel. general information: 934 43 75 20 edifi[email protected]

b’Ars General information: 93 624 06 19 www.barsvfx.com - info@barsvfx - .com/barsvfx

b’Ars Director Felix Balbas

Executive Producer Vilà

Producer Sara Rebuli

Content Advisor Maurizio Giglioli

Communications and Logistics Carla Vilà

Speakers and Job Fair Corinna Meneghetti

Press and Communication Comedia, Comunicació & Media

Image and Graphic and web Design Viba

Official Photographers Leonard Blum

Accounting and Admin Miguel y Nistal

Intership Pol Benedí

98 Contact and staff Contact